Top 10 Work Scenarios Where Less Collaboration is More

19/11/2015

Much has been written on the benefits of collaboration; however we’ve all been subject to “downward spiral” collaborative scenarios. Here are our top ten work scenarios where more collaboration yields less benefit, and less collaboration actually has more upside.

Legal. Everyone has opinions, but few have actual legal opinions. Opening this corporate function up to all-takers would make legal matters more akin to those conversations about politics or celebrity court cases held over happy hour.

Corporate event planning. Who knew there were so many logistics details involved in putting on the company picnic? Unless you’ve had a previous gig as an air traffic controller, you may not have the skill set or the patience to put on a corporate event.

IT. Unlike the Lego sets we played with as children, IT necessitates an exceptionally more strategic form of plug and play. Put the uninitiated to work in IT and you might end up doing your corporate computing via stone tablets.

Accounting. Accounting is a perpetual dance of debits and credits. Many folks these days can’t even balance their checkbooks. Unless you have a thing for spreadsheets and a fetish for figures, accounting is best left to the professionals.

Office cleaning. Having to pitch in and help clean the office is probably the only thing that could make Mondays even more deadly. Turn this into a mandatory collaborative activity and watch your absenteeism rates soar.

Salary negotiations. Best left to you and your hiring manager, and not to be made an office spectator sport.

HR new hire background checks. Make this process collaborative, and you’ll run amok quicker than you can say: “privacy and HR compliance issues.”

Vending machine assortment selections. People take their snacks VERY seriously in the workplace. Open this process up to input from the general population and you’ll end up with warring salty or savory factions.

Company logo design/tagline development. It’s amazing how much angst and fisticuffs are thrown about when it comes to company identity discussions. Best to keep this activity confined to a very small group – who are fully and properly restrained.

CEO. How would Glenda in Finance or Richard in Security do in their stints as “CEO for a Day”? Probably best that we’ll never know. There is no amateur hour in CEO-ville – for good reason.